Photochemistry in the urban agglomeration along the coastline of southeastern China: Pollution mechanism and control...

The concentrations of ground-level ozone (O₃) in China have undergone a rapid increase in recent years, resulting in adverse impacts on the air quality and climate change. However, limited research has been conducted on the coastal urban agglomerations with increasingly serious O₃ pollution. Therefore, in order to better understand in situ photochemistry, comprehensive field observations of O₃ and its precursors, coupled with the model simulation, were conducted in autumn of 2019 at six sites in an urban agglomeration along the coastline of southeastern China. Results indicated that O₃ pollution in the southern part of the urban agglomeration was more severe than that in the northern part, due to higher levels of O₃ precursors and stronger atmospheric oxidation capacity (AOC) in the southern regions. Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs), NO₂, and CO dominated the total OH reactivity, and the site-average daytime Ox (O₃ + NO₂) increments correlated well (R² = 0.94) with the total OH reactivity of CO and VOCs at these sites except for Quanzhou, where industrial emissions (35.1 %) and solvent usages (33.7 %) dominated the VOC sources. However, vehicle exhausts (31.1 %) were the most predominant contributors to the VOC sources at other sites. The results of model simulations showed that net O₃ formation rates were larger at the southern sites. Furthermore, O₃ production was mainly controlled by VOCs at most sites, but co-limited by VOCs and NOx at Quanzhou. The most significant VOC groups contributing to O₃ formation were aromatics and alkenes, with m/p-xylene, toluene, propene, and ethene being the main contributors at these sites. This study offers a more comprehensive understanding of the characteristics and formation of photochemical pollutions on the scale of the urban areas, indicating the critical need to reduce VOC emissions as a means of mitigating their photochemical effects.